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Sungevity

Posted by: BCorporation January 1st, 2013

Five years ago, residential solar power was something only the wealthy could afford. Then companies like Sungevity radically changed the solar industry.

Founded by a former BP Solar executive and a Greenpeace Manager, this Oakland, California-based company prides itself on being at the forefront of the “rooftop revolution,” aiming to put solar on individual houses worldwide. Its innovative solar lease program lets anyone with good credit get the solar on loan, paying a rental amount to Sungevity every month, rather than requiring homeowners to spend the entire $35,000 to $50,000 up front.

Homeowners around the world are turning to Sungevity for their affordable residential solar needs. The company has installed over 3,500 houses houses worldwide. It operates in eight U.S. states, and this year the company expanded into the Netherlands, partnering with Zonline to provide residential solar to Dutch homeowners. This quick global expansion was due in part to Sungevity’s iQuote system, which uses satellite images and aerial photography to assess solar potential—even in the Netherlands.

The global expansion, coupled with Sungevity’s partnership with Lowe’s home improvement stores, has already made this young B Corp a leader in the residential solar world. From 2009 to 2010, Sungevity grew 10 times in size, and in the last year, it doubled again. With that growth came new jobs: Sungevity tripled its number of employees in 2011, expanding from 100 to 300. And these are high quality jobs, too– Sungevity scored in the 90th percentile among all Certified B Corps for positive impact on its workers, making this rockstar a member of the B Corp “Best of the Best for Workers” and a leader among leaders.